The Only Difference
by Jebediah Sprinklefield
Summary: Hojo is not a nice person, as SOLDIERintraining Cloud Strife finds out when Hojo makes him pay for his friend Zack’s deeds against the evil scientist.[NOT SLASH] [Pregame, AU] [Mild Language]
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is my first Final Fantasy fic, so I'd appreciate it if flames could be kept to a minimum, despite my quite obvious lacking of any real knowledge on the subject. To all those who bother to read this, I apologise for putting you through my rather boring scrap of writing, but there was an annoyingly cute, chocobo haired plot bunny gnawing on my ankle and he reminded me of Cloud, so I just had to adopt him.

This is NOT a slash/yiao fic, just to point it out and make it clear and such, as I am frequently annoyed if I begin reading a fic only to find that it ends up being something I was not forewarned of, such as slash. Therefore I will endeavour to warn you should there be anything I believe you need to be warned of. In this particular chapter, for instance, I will warn you that there is some mild coarse language, as well as the beginnings of some Cloud whump…although I'm not sure if that expression is used in this particular genre of fan fiction, as I have not seen it used in my whole two days of reading here.

I think it's a given that I don't own this, but y'know, if you don't believe me then that's ok, I'm all too happy to take Cloud home…

Oh, also, I did not make up Zack's last name, I merely saw it in Kiraya's fic 'Butterfly Effect' (totally AWESOME fic, by the way, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has not already read it) and it looked quite shiny so I thought I'd steal it for myself. If the original designer of the name reads this and is offended, simply let me know and I will try to atone. Anyways, once again just clarifying that I don't own anything...the plot's not even that original, but I don't know who originally designed it or I'd be sure to give them credit.

Ok, seriously though, I really should shut up about now, ey? See you on the other side! (Well, other side of this chapter, at least)

Summary: Hojo is not a nice person, as SOLDIER-in-training Cloud Strife finds out when Hojo makes him pay for his friend Zack's deeds against the evil scientist.

Note: The title doesn't really mean anything, other than it's a really cool song by Panic! At The Disco (haha, what am I, a walking billboard?) and thus, I shall post snippets of the song at the beginnings of some of the chapters. Simply because I have the power to do so. Mwauhahahahahahaha!

_**The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage**_

Sit tight, I'm gonna need you to keep time, come on just snap snap snap your fingers for me.  
Good good, now we're making some progress come on just tap tap tap your toes to the beat.  
And I believe, this may call for a proper introduction.  
And well, don't you see? I'm the narrator, and this is just the prologue.

0o0o0o0o0

Knock, knock, knock.

The nervous knocking on the door to his private office made First Class SOLDIER Zack Sinclair turned towards the offending party, smiling kindly at the young cadet who was shaking so much that Zack was almost surprised he hadn't fallen over.

"Uh…First Class Colonel Sinclair, sir," squeaked the boy, who had to be at least seventeen or eighteen. It was actually starting to concern Zack a little. Around the base he was notoriously known for his kindness and disposition toward helping the anti-social types become more friendly. Two shining examples of this were his commanding officer, Sephiroth, and the young, withdrawn boy who had just finished his cadetship and graduated into SOLDIER, Cloud Strife.

"Hey kid, it's alright. I don't bite, you know." It didn't help, though, he still looked like he was about to announce his own execution. There was even a slightly thoughtful look in the corner of his eye that gave Zack the impression he was planning his own funeral.

The cadet saluted swiftly before responding, still shaking and squeaking. "Sorry, sir. I have to deliver a message, sir, from the medical department. There's been an accident."

Now Zack really was worried. "What kind of accident?"

The kid gulped quite audibly, "The new SOLDIER you decided to sponsor as your apprentice, Cloud Strife…there was an accident with his mako enhancement procedure…"

"What _kind_ of accident," Zack repeated, really trying not to scare the kid, but at the same time needing the information he held.

"They, uh…they gave him too much mako…" Zack frowned. They had specific procedures in place specifically to ensure that things like that didn't happen. Before they graduated, every cadet was tested for their mako tolerance. If it was even slightly below average, they were failed immediately and sent packing. Cloud's mako tolerance hadn't been amazing, but it had been quite good, perhaps due to the fact that he had grown up near a mako reactor. The results of every cadet's tests were immediately put onto the medical records of the cadet so that if and when the time came to do the mako enhancement procedure on them, the medics would know exactly what measure of mako to use.

"But he's going to be alright, isn't he? They can't have gone that far over the limit…"

The kid gulped again, looking as if he had finally resigned himself to his fate he straightened up and prepared to deliver the full story. "They uh…They don't know if he'll survive the night. It appears as though Strife was given almost three times his recommended dosage…he has severe mako poisoning."

"Shit! Who the hell was in charge of the procedure?"

"Professor Hojo, sir" the cadet grimaced, shrinking back at the look of utmost contempt that had now formed on Sinclair's face, despite the fact that it had not been directed at him, but at an absent third party, namely Professor Hojo.

"That no good son of a bitch!" Zack hissed, kicking the wall. He knew it was improper conduct, especially in front of a cadet, but he couldn't help it. He and Hojo hadn't exactly seen eye to eye on a lot of things, not least of all because of the fact that Hojo just happened to be a _slimy little bastard._

Hojo's latest little scheme had been finding homeless people in the slums and kidnapping them, using them as specimens for testing and experiments. Gaia only knows what sort of experiments the sick little beaver was conducting. Fortunately, though, Zack had found out and reported it to the higher-ups, who had immediately ordered Hojo to stop. Not that they really cared what happened to the lowly slum people, but it would further tarnish ShinRa's name if the public were to find out. Apparently Hojo's way of getting back at Zack for that one was to kill his new apprentice. His _friend_. Not that Hojo knew what those were.

Zack composed himself quickly, grabbing his keys and wallet as he headed out of the office. "Thankyou, cadet. You're dismissed." The kid all but sprinted away.

Arriving in the training centre's main infirmary, Zack immediately headed over to the small ICU, hoping and praying that Cloud was still there and not in the morgue already.

Drawing back the curtain of the only occupied bed, Zack felt almost relieved to see the telltale blond chocobo hair. Cloud was very pale, shivering despite that he was sweaty and feverish. His eyes were open a sliver, allowing Zack to see his normally bright blue eyes were dull, yet glowing and with mako-green ringed pupils, an obvious sign of mako poisoning.

'_Cloud doesn't deserve this,'_ Zack thought. The kid was very shy and withdrawn, finding it hard to make friends, but he was also very loyal to the few friends he did have. He was a talented fighter, particularly with a sword, but did prefer not to resort to violence. He was never quick to anger. In fact, Zack wasn't sure if he'd ever really seen the kid angry before, bar one time when they had been socialising (well, Zack had been socialising and had insisted Cloud tag along) in one of the lower sectors when they had passed three guys with knives trying to rob a young woman. None of the older guys with whom Zack had been fraternising had noticed a thing, until Zack noticed that Cloud had quietly slipped away. By that time, ofcourse, all three guys were down, disarmed, and Cloud was helping the woman to her feet. That had been the first time Zack had seen Cloud as anything more than just an antisocial young cadet who made a perfect specimen on which to inflict 'Zack Sinclair's Famous (or so he said) Socialisation Class'.

"How ya doing, kiddo?" he said, pulling up a chair beside the fifteen-year-old's hospital bed. Heh, it even had those clinically white sheets that Cloud hated, said they were a sign of sickness. Made him think of Death.

Sitting here, now, Zack couldn't help but share the views of the deathly pale boy before him.

Cloud had come to the SOLDIER program younger than most, at the tender age of fourteen, but eager to prove himself. He had been immediately labelled 'shy mountain kid', because of his quiet, introverted nature and the fact that he just come to Midgar from the little mountainous town of Nibelheim, though he had impressed his instructors with his obvious talent for sword work and hand-to-hand combat.

"You're a cool kid, y'know Strife? In fact, when you get better I'll even let you try out my Buster Sword. But you're gonna have to be real careful with it. Don't want you trying to pull some sweet move and end up more of a ladies man than I am, eh Cloud?"

Cloud's only response was to curl into himself, whimpering in pain. He stayed that way for a minute or so, before splaying out over the bed and arching his back, twitching wildly as his mako-glowing eyes rolled backward into his head.

"Shit! Nurse! Nurse, something's wrong!" Zack shouted, attempting to get someone to help his little buddy. Apparently, though, the nurses had already been alerted by the frantic beeping noise the heart monitor that Zack only just noticed was wired up next to Cloud's bed, along with various other monitors. Startled, Zack did a quick sweep with his eyes to see if there was anything else he had missed through his lack of attention. There was one notable thing – Cloud was in restraints. From his guesses, that could only mean one of two things, one being that Cloud had been suffering delusions (highly unlikely from the almost catatonic state he had been in when Zack arrived) or, more likely, that this was not the first time had had a seizure.

As two nurses and a doctor rushed over to help, Zack found himself gently pushed to the background. "He's seizing again, BP dropping…" trying to listen to their exchanges proved futile, as Zack found himself quite lost to their medical jargon. However as Cloud suddenly slackened, falling back onto the bed limp, there was one yell that he understood the implications of quite clearly.

"He's crashing!"

0o0o0o0o0

A/N: Ooh, evil cliffy, and on the first chapter too! Well, I had to do _something_ to try and get people to review, didn't I? Well, review and give me a piece of you mind…-cackles evilly- with enough mind-pieces I shall be able to make Mind-Piece Pie! Mwauhahahahahahaha!

Uh…yeah…moving right along now…Well, I didn't put Sephiroth in this chapter, as you already know (well, incredibly brief mention at the start not included, anyway) which is for a simple reason: I want you guys to tell me what you want, then, at the time of writing for whenever I get around to writing a bit I intend to put Sephiroth in (possibly next chapter) I shall tally up results and go for a majority rules verdict. The subject of my apparent indecision, is this: Do we want an Evil Sephiroth, a Nice Sephiroth, a Nice-But-Going-To-Go-Mad-Anyway Sephiroth, or no Sephiroth at all?

Oh, and if you hadn't worked it out already, this is an AU fic, but considering that _all_ fics are AU, you already knew that.

Thanks for reading, sayonara and please review!

Suicune.

PS: Has not been Beta-read, all faults are my own.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I apologise for all spelling/grammar mistakes, all are my own – I don't have a Beta, so I accept full blame.

It's so strange coming to this genre of fan fiction. You'd think that fan fiction is fan fiction and it's all the same, but the differences between genres are quite startling. I'm sorry if I happen to confuse anyone with my jargon during A/Ns, but I'm still having a bit of trouble adjusting to the culture shock. When I first got into Stargate: Atlantis fan fiction, it took me a while to get used to all the writer's jargon they used. Now I find myself trying to distance myself from that particular dialect of writer's jargon and trying to learn another. It's more challenging than it sounds…or I'm just not very bright, which is probably more likely…

Oh, and I should just mention that any warnings for this chapter are the same as from the last. More of a filler chapter, but meh shrugs.

Summary: Hojo is not a nice person, as SOLDIER-in-training Cloud Strife finds out when Hojo makes him pay for his friend Zack's deeds against the evil scientist.

Anyways, here we go – Chapter Two! Sorry, but I couldn't even think of a decent story name, so it might take me a while to name the chapter – but I will, eventually!

_**The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage**_

_Swear to shake it up if you swear to listen.  
Oh we're still so young, desperate for attention  
I aim to be your eyes  
Trophy boys, trophy wives._

((And the song even works – the chorus is basically a filler, right? And this chapter is just a filler…how nifty is that, eh?))

0o0o0o0o0

Zack scrubbed a hand over his weary face as he struggled to stay awake. Keeping up with his training and duties while also trying to spend as much time as possible at Cloud's bedside was really starting to wear him down. Still, it was the least he could do, considering that it was really his fault in the first place for the kid's sorry state.

He had seen enough cases of mako poisoning on the front lines of the war against Wutai to know each stage of the 'disease' intimately. First came the sickness – vomiting blood, coughing fits, difficulty breathing, seizures, rupturing blood vessels, heart attacks, strokes, haemorrhaging, just to name a few of the symptoms suffered. Then, if the victim survived, they would drift into a state of catatonia, sometimes punctuated by delusional spells. Then, if the person were lucky enough to survive _and_ overcome the catatonic state, they would most likely fall into deep psychosis because of the sudden bombardment of memories. The other most common side effect was permanent amnesia. It was no wonder, then, that there were such strict regulations in place to avoid mako poisoning as much as humanly possible. Pity the damn regulations didn't work.

It was the third day before the sickness finally passed, leaving Cloud staring half-lidded at the ceiling with complete disinterest, and Zack talking animatedly in a chair beside his bed, taking great effort to pick up the slack, by talking enough for the both of them, leading to some rather one-sided conversations. Of course, it wasn't exactly much different from usual, considering that Zack already talked enough for two people while Cloud hardly spoke at all.

It was the fourth day before General Sephiroth returned from a mission his mission to find his weary friend slumped in a chair next to a hospital bed in the Intensive Care Unit, struggling valiantly to hold a two-way conversation with just one person.

The silver haired General strode into the Academy's infirmary wing with his usual commanding, decisive step. Walking over to where his black haired friend was tiredly hunched in one of the uncomfortable infirmary chairs, Sephiroth picked up a chair for himself along the way and set it beside his friend's.

"Zack," he said by way of greeting, nodding politely to the man in question.

Zack quickly broke off his explanation of why shirukens were cooler than nun chucks, while both held and infinitely higher coolness factor than the simple knife-pistols standard to lower level ordinary troopers. "Sephiroth! When did you get back? I though you weren't expected until late Thursday…"

"It _is_ late Thursday, Zack, and I only just arrived back. I was a little concerned when you weren't in your office and a few of your reports were missing. I asked one of the cadets and he said I might be able to find you here, what's going on?"

"Sorry about the reports sir, but Cloud-o here's got a nasty case of mako poisoning. Couldn't exactly leave the kid stranded here. I brought a couple of the reports with me to work on, but I've been having a bit of trouble concentrating…"

"That's alright. I'd be a cold-hearted monster to say that paperwork comes before people's health. How is he? It can't be that bad, can it? There are a lot of protocols in place to prevent things like this, but accidents to happen every now and again–"

"It was no damn accident!" Zack growled darkly, his weariness dissipating, quickly replaced by a look of pure loathing. "Hojo did it on purpose, just to get back at me for stopping that last little shop of horrors he had going."

"Zack, I understand that you are angry and looking for someone to blame, not to mention you and Hojo don't exactly have the best track record, but how can you be certain that Hojo is behind Cloud's poisoning? A slip of the syringe and any poor nurse could have accidentally given him too much mako. People make mistakes, it's only human. I hate Hojo as much as you do, but you have to get proof before you can start pointing the finger at people. Least of all the head of the Science department."

"Who's to say I don't have proof?" Zack glared, before sighing and calming himself a bit. "Look Seph, sorry about that. I've hardly slept for three days and I think it's beginning to show. But you've got to understand, I _know_ that Hojo was behind this, without a doubt. For starters, I know that accidents can happen, but it was just _way_ too much to possibly be an accident. Secondly, Hojo decided to oversee this round of enhancements personally, which he never does. Not to mention that the perfect way to get back at me would be through hurting my trainee. I would say friend, but I doubt Hojo knows the meaning of the word, if he knows the word at all."

"You should get some sleep. You look like shit. I'm not even going to comment on poor Cloud's appearance, but I think it's a given that when suffering from mako poisoning one must indeed _look _like a sufferer of mako poisoning. How long has he been out of it?"

"Haven't then given you _any_ information at all?" Sephiroth shook his head in response, making Zack remember that he had been stationed at a remote outpost for the better part of the last fortnight, with no means of communication at all until he was nearly back at Midgar. "He's been drifting like that since yesterday. I hate to say it, but I'm kinda glad that he's drifting. I could hardly stand to keep watching him puke half his blood out every five minutes, and the seizures at midnight, ugh" Zack shivered in remembrance, "just try not to be asleep in one of these chairs when that happens. The cushioning is just soft enough to stop you from being able to get up properly, but just hard enough to hurt your head when you fall down again after trying to get up." Sephiroth cocked an eyebrow in amusement at the thought. Despite the gravity of the situation, he found the image of Zack trying to stand up, but only managing to fall on his butt and bang his head on his chair quite amusing.

Sephiroth only allowed himself a rather brief moment of amusement, however, before getting back to the reality of the situation. "So exactly how bad is it, really?"

"To be honest, he's lucky he got this far. The docs were surprised he survived the first night, let alone four whole days. In fact, the sickness passed rather quickly. I don't know whether that's a good sign or not, but I'll take what I can get at the moment. Considering he's suffered a far higher exposure level any other recorded case of mako poisoning in history, we don't exactly have a base line to compare his stats with. To put it simply, even the doctors are working purely on speculation and guess work at this point in time. By all rights he should be dead already. I told 'em, though. Cloud here's a fighter. It's gonna take more than a little case of mako poisoning to keep this kid down. Ain't it, Cloud-o?" he said cheerfully, turning his attention to the catatonic boy in his last sentence. Sure enough, no response was given from the 15-year-old, not even so much as a blink.

Zack's smile didn't quite reach his eyes, and quickly left his face, Sephiroth noted. "How much mako did he receive?" the General asked grimly.

"Almost three times his threshold. Far too much."

Sephiroth nodded dismally. Like it or not, Zack was going to have to face facts. "You realise that even if he manages to survive, he will be permanently removed from the SOLDIER program?"

Mako was like paracetamol, in some respects. Sure, if you took paracetamol in the recommended dosage you could knock out your headache and continue working at 110, but if you accidentally overdosed, your liver would slowly begin shutting down, letting you die the long and painful death of liver failure. The real kicker, though, was that you'd still have your headache. If the mako enhancements were delivered in small, tolerable quantities, they would be more or less safe, as well as being able to get enhancements from the mako. If you got too much mako and suffered poisoning, it would almost certainly make you highly allergic to mako, which would prevent and future treatments, but it would also not give you the enhancements it was taken for in the first place.

Zack nodded dourly, signing again. "I know. Poor kid, he's gonna be devastated. All he wanted to do was become a SOLDIER. He wanted to be like you, did you know? Wanted to be strong and brave and unmovable like The Great General Sephiroth..."

0o0o0o0o0

So, there we go, up to Chapter Two on my first ever Final Fantasy fic. Whoo! I should probably point out, also, that despite the opinions of several severely misguided contacts on my MSN list, I am _not_ a doctor, and therefore inherently have absolutely no clue what I'm talking about. The only thing I actually do have some reasonably accurate knowledge on, is the fact that paracetamol overdose _does_ cause liver failure, which is fatal unless you get a stomach pump. On the other hand, I have absolutely no idea whether your headache would go away or not. I think I'd be more inclined to think the headache would go away, but for the purposes of this story, it stays. IT STAYS, DAMNIT! MWUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

Uh…anyways, read and review please!

Free Sephiroth pl00shies to all those who reviewed last chapter, and Cloud pl00shies to anyone who reviews this chapter! And I'm not entirely sure how long I can keep Sephiroth sane for…so be warned, be may turn evil in chapter four. If you want him to stay kind, review! Heck, even if you want him evil, review anyway!

And before I go, can I just add some shameless self-promotion? I decided to try my hand at making music videos, and thus have uploaded my first EVER video on Youtube (it makes me feel rather accomplished, actually), so if anyone wants to watch it, go to Youtube and look under my username – Suicune1000 . (I'd post a link, but I don't think they work, do they? If they do, let me know and I'll put it in next chapter, but usually websites don't let you put links in…) The song is Nerina Pallot's 'Everybody's Gone to War' and it features, naturally, Final Fantasy VII. It's not great, and the quality sucks, but hey, at least I tried

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye!

xoxoxox

Suicune.


End file.
